How's your life?
How's your wife?
How's your stress?
How's your strife?

Made any progress yet?

Going up?
Going down?
Coming back around?

I just have one question
What is it that you've found?

Strategies for living
They come and go

One minute you don't know
The next minute you do

One minute you have it all figured out-
The next minute you're filled with doubt.

It's a twisted ******* mess
we're in.

You either keep it on going
or
You step on outside trying something else

Having no answers
doesn't help
You just gotta figure it out
How
to take care of yourself.

Yikes!

Good luck!
Good luck
Good luck.

It's a *******'
life
we're living -
Don't you think?

Needing to go home, the time has come
All of these designs have come undone
The party favors have been put away

The room is cold, your body still with sleep
There are a thousand open windows looking in from the street

The night was filled with shooting stars

A one night stand is what our lives are

We loved each morning well
We played through out the night
When it was dawn we longed for the night

We held up infinity's mirror
We danced like angels riding the Santa Ana winds
We dreamed of sandcastles and moved right in

We constructed deconstructed
there were even moments of resurrection

But the time has come to head on home

Kissing your forehead fairtheewell

Leaving my belongings on the floor

I came with nothing but potential
I leave with nothing as promised

Opening the door
A turn to the dark and silent night
But first blessing those who remain unblessed
by such a life's gifts

The time has come
I need to go home
Time for peaceful rest.

The first time I saw your face
It was the most beautiful flower
I had ever seen
A mandala of perfection.
Bringing me
Absolute peace
How could I not
But love you.

I've given up being a martyr
I did it tomorrow or maybe yesterday
I finally found the door
Spending less time outside
More time inside
Figuring out what's next.

The chapters in our lives end
The end of that story
Or
What then?
Athletes never beat time
Hang on in forever?

The day turns into the night
You're waking up again.

The answers come and go

There is identity in being a martyr
Knowing/not knowing
What to do
Who to be
What to give
Giving it all away
Perpetual obligation
Perpetual melancholy
A purpose, a project
Completed?

What then?

We all have empty nests
Broken hearts

Projects inevitably end

Standing, looking into the distance,  hand blocking the sun
Lingering
Wondering
Is there one more thing

Yes there is

Moving on
Saying bye bye
it's time.

Alone again.

The rain finally comes
The spring rises up to greet the sun
On the long river highway,
The road is long
Past the brook
Past the stream
Along the river
Beyond the lake
Past the lagoon
The wetlands too
The highway a ribbon unfolds
Out to the ocean the road goes
With the promise of deepest
Sleep.

All of life,
everything we shall ever know
is found within the gardens

Pulling weeds and the cover crop
*** them under or pulling them up
I never remember

The soil crumbling between my fingers
Perfect for planting
All is hope and promises

The gardens are a cycle
You've have to add excrement to begin again

The seeds are sewn, the starts transplanted
Water slightly pooled, dripping down into
the rich dark soil
A red worm winds its way down
Life begins again
Vulnerable

The  light of the sun, so warming
Cosmic love radiated our way
Life is an urge, it finds its way

The lettuce, the tomatoes, the zucchini, the artichoke, the cauliflower, the raspberries,
a blue berry or two
Medicinal herbs, oregano, cilantro, too

Fruitful youth
A flower is a plant with a hardon
The juices running right down my face
Taste
Nourishment

It feels like total summer forever
But football and school come every September

The days get shorter
The plants turn yellow and brown
Outgrow themselves
Wither and die

Purgatory lives,
along come the cover crops and weeds
In winter all just try to survive

The garden know its limits
It knows what being is all about
All of life, everything we shall ever know
Is found within the gardens.

The ace of hearts
sat down at the table
feeling oh so confident
stares at the three of spades
in his pocket

While the king of diamonds
eyes his diamond queen
in his mind
the ten
hides behind the jack

The queens figured
tonight was the night
they were going to get laid

The deuces were quietly weeping
wondering if another deuce
on the table was going to be played

The ace of hearts
his heart was racing
as the ace of spades
made its way
followed by the ace of diamonds
and a diamond three
a rare drop
was all he could say.

The king of diamonds
to his court he smiled
as the deuce of diamonds
sparkled on the table

The queens, they trembled
wondered if the only thing getting laid
was their heads on the chopping block
this day

The third deuce had joined the pair
his heart was lifted
but still in despair
the deuces looked down the river forlornly
Many have lost it all for more

The ace of hearts was feeling cocky
a warm fullness washed over him
he looked out at his life
figured all he could do was win
he believed in love
sometimes you gotta go
all in
he smiled as he waited at the dock of the river

The king still flushed with diamonds galore
their sparkles blinded him
he joined the ace in the fog
it was either this or that
there were no more games to play

Now faced with two endings
which path to take

The queens had
had enough
on the table they folded
into a fatal swoon

Three deuces
he wavered
his hands were trembling
the game ain't over until
the rent money is gone

Gamblers
some are optimists
some are realists
some are looking for salvation
some are going to play
until they have no more left to pay
looking for death, so they say
driven by compulsions rage

all ask the question
is
this a streak or a slump?

Which was the deuces on this day?
The optimist joins the fray
The realist he folds goes on home to play another day,
All pray.

On your playing field
so far away
what is the play?
Which are you today?

As many endings
as there are
combinations of cards
sometimes it even rains frogs

The room was quiet
the aces full
the king flushing
three deuces - waiting
what to do?
I guess I am the optimist today
the sun is shining after five days of rain

A distant sight
down the river came
as the two of clubs
was beating the water's edge
running and laughing
all the way.

What ever it is
it is
What ever it was
it was
ain't no season
ain't no reason
We were just
doing the best
we could
Lives
blowing in the winds
doing what we thought
we should

The earth it
twirls
We were just trying
to make it
through the day
putting together
some kind of way.

What ever it is
it is
What ever it was
it was -
Ain't no reason
Ain't no season -
Just doing the best we could

Memory will tell
us lies about
the way it was
Memory sometimes is
on our side
Memory sometimes has lots to hide
but either way
What ever it was
was exactly
the way
it was

Every time I walk
down that line
melancholy's gonna
sing the blues

It just is what ever
it is
Just is what ever
it was

I guess that's okay with me

There is no reason
There is no season
We were just doing the
best we could.

Reach and fail
Reach and
                   fail,
Coming to terms with who is who
And what is what
What gifts have been given
What gifts will never be delivered
Where the darkness reigns
Where the light rains
Where love remains

Coming to terms with the four white walls,
What is projection?
What are delusions?
What is truth and beauty?
What is it
we are grateful for?

Each step taken
One step forward
Two steps back
Honing
Moaning
Calling out into the night
Looking for the dawn
With words that
Pitter patter -
Tears that are wet for a moment
but evaporate on the floor -
Calling out
"come on, come on -
Give me some
At least one more time"

In this awkwardness
In these limitations
Of vocabulary
In the flatness of these
Rhythms and rhymes
While others create spaces
and lines
Pieces expanding to the skies
Maybe even a little bit more than
wise - touching the divine

I'm
Twisting and falling
Holding on
Coming to terms with who is who
and
What is what
Still gotta try to find
the true poetry
One more time
One more line
Gotta do it
Before I really die.